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As a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) enthusiast, I love giving my kids open-ended challenges where they need to use their own creativity and ingenuity to solve a problem.
Here’s a Tower Building challenge I gave to my kids – and that your children might enjoy as well!
Tower Building Challenge Directions
Your challenge: Build the tallest tower you can.
These are the rules:
- Your tower must be free standing (i.e., not touching anything but the floor).
- You can only use two types of materials (e.g., paper and tape, straws and play dough, paper cups and craft sticks).
So select two types of material and start building!
Get creative. Try different materials. Experiment with different bases for your structure. And most importantly, have fun!
For example, your children can build a tower using foam blocks and shaving foam.
Or build a tower out of toothpicks and gum drops.
The key to any good tower is to start with a strong base. So encourage your child to build a strong, wide base that will provide a firm foundation for the tower as it goes up.
Below are three towers built by others using just two materials each. Note that in all cases the base is at least somewhat wider than the top of the tower.
And if you feel so inclined, please send me a photo of your tower so I can see what you did!
Want more Stay-At-Home STEAM Challenges?
Check out the following challenges from my Stay-At-Home STEAM Challenge collaborators:
- Make It Go STEAM Challenge from Geek Pack Hack
- Cargo Boat STEAM Challenge from The Homeschool Scientist
- Egg Drop Challenge from iGame Mom
